Brazilian police have arrested five people over an alleged plot to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022, authorities said.
The Brazilian Federal Police launched “Operation Counter-Coup” Tuesday (19) in a bid to dismantle the criminal organization alleged responsible for planning a coup d’état aimed at preventing President Lula from taking office after the 2022 elections. The plot included the assassination of both the president and vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, according to the plan.
“A detailed operational plan dubbed ‘Green and Yellow Dagger’ was uncovered, to be carried out on December 15, 2022. It was aimed at assassinating the candidates for president and vice-president elected,” the police reported.
The criminals also planned to restrict the free exercise of the judiciary. “There were also plans to arrest and execute a Supreme Court justice who had been continuously monitored, should the coup d’état be carried out,” said the police.
The plan envisioned the eventual creation of an “Institutional Crisis Management Office” in Brazil’s government that the coup plotters would control, according to the police.
Ex-president accused of participating in the alleged plot
According to a police warrant carried out on Tuesday, which was signed by the Supreme court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, Bolsonaro allegedly met with officials from the army and navy as well as the minister of defense in December 2022 to present a document detailing the legal framework that would keep him in power.
The former president has repeatedly denied allegations of attempting a coup. His son, Flavio Bolsonaro, who is a senator in the Brazilian Congress, suggested in a post on X that the five suspects had not committed a crime.
“As disgusting as it may be to think about killing someone, it is not a crime. And for there to be an attempt, the execution must be interrupted by some situation beyond the control of the perpetrators. Which does not appear to have happened,” he wrote.
Sources: Agência Brasil and CNN